methodwriter85

Marie's a 15-year old girl who is used to getting her own way by batting her eyes at her Daddy or the cute upperclassmen. I doubt she's heading for MaryEllen status. There's teenaged bitch, and there's teenaged sociopath. As someone who went to high school that was like 66 percent girls, you really do learn the difference.

Like I said, back around 2001 Rufus Wainwright was the "go to" cool indie music guy. I was 15 when he broke out, and while my taste wasn't ready for that(I was more into Good Charlotte), I had friends who were older that talked about him constantly. A lot of his work showed up in movies and T.V. shows in the early 2000's. I think people who were in college or mid/late 20-somethings in 2001 would probably know him well, if they were into non-pop music.

Chapter 27 -When Will and Kai say their goodbyes. "Here's To The Night" by Eve 6 -When Will arrives back home. "California" by Rufus Wainright -When Will and John go to the "End of Summer" party at Brendan's house, and Will makes his peace with Erik. Among other things. "Hit 'Em Up Style" by Blu Cantrell God, this would have been such a good song to use when Brad started fucking up Robbie's truck. Too bad that scene was from late 1999/early 2000 instead of 2001.

I'm actually debating not putting music into the actual 9.11 chapter. I don't know, for me, 9.11 was defined by the "silence" of the skies, and I thought it might be interesting to go silent for that.

The context of Will's coming-of-age is really interesting- it's post-gay rights movements of the 1970's and 1980's, and it's after AIDS stopped being seen as a death sentence in the Western World. (Mid-1990's.) It's also when gay teenagers were able to meet other gay teenagers online, which became common in the late 1990's. (Although that's something that hasn't really been a factor in Will's development yet- it does seem like the one thing Brad did was monitor the guys's online habits.) Will is emerging as being representative of that first generation of gay men who were openly gay by middle school and never got any real crap for it, and don't know what it's like to be gaybashed because society had become much more open and accepting. It's also taking place when more and more men are willing to own up to the idea that sexuality isn't quite so black and white for them, which we're seeing with Gathan, and likely with JJ later on. It's in stark contrast to the mindset that Brad's generation grew up with, where you were either straight or you were gay, and if you were bisexual you were just kidding yourself. Here, you're seeing phrases like "bromance", "metrosexual", "heteroflexible", "pansexual", and "bi-curious" becoming common, because society had advanced to the point where people were more accepting of not just gay people, but people who didn't fall into either binary. (Although let's be honest- bisexually-shaded guys still get a lot of crap from people.) It's why Tony is being made into a pretty important narrative piece, because Tony represents the classic closet case, which is starting to become anachronistic during this decade. Very true. Even though Will is described as having the mindset of an 18-year old, they're still pretty damn immature for the most part. I don't think I really came into maturity without it being an act until I was 25 or so. Grad school kinda forces it out of you.

I liked how this chapter, as well as Will's home renovation storyline in general, evoked the whole feeling of home improvement T.V. shows like Trading Spaces with a dash of Extreme Makeover- Home Edition. Really "of" the time period- as home values skyrocketed, home improvement was pretty huge. An entire network- HGTV - was set up in devotion of it. I wonder if we're going to get a storyline where Stefan decides to build a housing development in say the Inland Empire, or in the O.C.

Chapter 26 -When Will shows off the Extreme Home Makeover to Kai's family. "Beautiful Day" by U2 -When JP reminsces about falling in love with Sam in 1968, and about Will's relationship with Sam's son. "Love Is Blue" by Paul Mauriat

Chapter 25 -When JP and Isidore discuss the amicable end of their marriage of convenience. "Make Your Own Kind of Music" by Mama Cass I picked this one because it was the song that Mark picked for 1968, when JP goes home in their Chicago home and sees the very different kind of family he's built up with Isidore. -When JP and Isidore discuss their grandchildren, and JP expresses his concern about how JJ seems to have become almost too self-reliant. "I Am A Rock" by Simon & Garfunkel -When Will ruminates over how much he likes Kai and enjoys his company, but the sex with Tony was so much better, and wonders if he can have both great friendship and mind-blowing sex in the same guy. "More Than This" by Roxxy Music This song will always be the tune that Bill Murray sang in Lost in Translation to me.

You're thinking of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County: The O.C. was never really like that. It was centered by a bromance and the two power couples of Ryan/Marissa and Seth/Summer...Mean Girls wasn't really a running undercurrent of the show. Every generation has a show. For my oldest sister born in 1977, it was 90210. For my sisters born in the early 80's, it was Dawson's Creek. For me, it's the O.C. For you people born in the early/mid-90's, I'd say it was Glee.

Why do I get the feeling that you're not just going to let JJ finish out the rest of his teens in relative peace as he diligently and quietly makes his way towards the '06 Olympics at Torino? I do think it's interesting how JP worries about JJ, because JJ is kind of this enigma that he doesn't really get. JJ's not like any one else in the family. He doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve like Will does.

I cringed about it at first, and I'm still not particularly into reading the scenes, but then again...when I was 9th grade I did know guys and girls who were very developed and very sexually experienced. I knew a few people who had already had brushes with pregnancy and the like. It wasn't a big deal to me in 9th grade when my friends talked about having sex, because when I was 14/15 I didn't see my friends as being little kids. I mean, you're not really representing Will as the norm, which is why the massive bulk of the guys you've had Will hook up with were at least 17.

Hey, Private Tim, Blue, and other So-Cal people...how accurate did you guys find the O.C. in terms of representing affluent Southern California culture in the early/mid-2000's? I've got the O.C on my brain right now because of the big anniversary of the show... Check out this interview with Josh Schwartz on The O.C.'s 10th anniversary. Here's an interesting quote from him as to why it seems like so many shows during the first half of the aughts were being focused on Orange County: The general impression that I'm getting about the Newport Harbor Orange County that Josh was trying to depict is that this area was very, very tied into the mindset of the Bush II era- social conservatism (Luke's dad basically becomes an outcast when he's outed), the real estate boom creating a nouveau riche class, parents who can't say no to their Millenial children, being credit-rich but cash poor, McMansions galore, and the driving of massive, tricked-out SUV's. Ryan's mother was fit in very well with the O.C. that we saw on the show- I'm picturing her with a fake tan and Juicy Couture sweatsuits right now. Of course, the flip-side impression that I've gotten about Orange County is the more middle-class, Anaheim version of it, the one with plenty of Asians and interesting subcultures like Ska coming out of it, or the culture that spawned Gwen Stefani.

Alright, I'll go more age appropriate for Tonto. Sally Field? (She's 66 or 67 years old now, so that'd make her Tonto's age range for 1968/The Land Whore.) I'll say this- whatever work Sally Field has done has been absolutely fantastic. It's been subtle and she still looks good, but most importantly, like herself. Talk about aging gracefully with a minimal amount of "refreshments." I wish Faye Dunaway could have taken note. I can go even older with Ellen Burstyn...this is her at about age 79, which would put her in Tonto's age range for Be Rad/Man In Motion.

Will has a lot of sex because Mark wants him to have a lot of sex, because this is Mark's story, and Mark's story is a gay erotic story about gay and bisexual men from a slutty powerful family. Will is not-quite 15, but fucks his way through the story like he's an 18-year old college kid, because Mark did not want to advance the story to 2004 so he's written Will as essentially having the body and mindset of an 17/18-year old guy. Will is also, by virture of the fact that he's growing up in a time period where no one really cares about him being gay, able to meet and do whatever he wants to do. Do you guys really think that if Brad had grown up in the early 00's instead of the late 70's, he wouldn't have banged every available piece of tail he could find when he was Will's age? The only reason why Brad's high school numbers aren't on par with Will's is because Brad grew up in a time period where being openly gay would get your ass beaten or worse, and the fear of being found out likely held him back. (We also only followed Brad through one story of high school, whereas so far we've seen 3 stories of Will's.) I just don't feel like there's any deep reason as to why Will's having so much sex. He's got a body that's telling him to fuck everything in sight, he's rich and looks like an 18-year old model, he's from a generation that isn't worried about AIDS, and his jet-set lifestyle allows him opportunity after opportunity to meet new sexual partners. And as for the idea that he might be "up" or even pass where Matt is...we've only see Matt's point of view once, during his senior year of high school through his freshman year of college. It wasn't exactly like Matt was a virgin when we met him either. And he's been in an open relationship with Wade since freshman year, and I'm betting he had a lot of sex partners since leading up to Wade's storyline in Paternity, and after. The only reason why Will's standing out so much is because we've covering more of his life with much smaller gaps than anyone else (July 2000 to September 2000 in 46 chapters, September 2000 to January 2001 in 100 chapters, June 2001 to now at currently 25 chapters), so we're privy to more of his sexual encounters than the other characters. Will hasn't gotten anyone pregnant, or infected anybody with a disease, so whatever he does...I generally don't see the problem since he damn sure doesn't seem to be hurting himself.

The O.C.'s 10 Year Playlist 1. - Phantom Planet2. - South3. - Fountains of Wayne4. - Finley Quaye5 6. - Alexi Murdoch7. - The Dandy Warhols8. - Jeff Buckley9. - Placebo The O.C. really had such an incredible soundtrack. I'm glad they used indie music for the most part, so that the soundtrack hasn't been gutted on the DVD's.

Her name was Alex. They really were enjoyable. I thought Marissa and Ryan had their moments, but the true star couple was Seth and Summer. I've enjoyed re-runs of One Tree Hill and the show did have its moments. but I think it was hampered by the fact that Chad Michael Murray really isn't that good of an actor...The O.C. had it's weak link in Mischa Barton, but other than that, the acting and the dialogue was so strong that the show hit a higher bar than the One Tree Hill did. The show had a phenomenal season 1, a good season 2, a trainwreck season 3, but then came back together in the end to send the show off on a good season 4. Here's one of my favorite moments from the show:

Ready to feel old, guys? The O.C. premiered 10 years ago today. The 10 Best Things The O.C. Gave Us It was short-lived, but definitely one of the biggest pop culture phenons I've ever experienced, where EVERYONE was talking about the show- not just us teenagers, but our teachers, parents, coaches. And it was one of the few soap operas that guys actually admitted to watching. It had a huge impact on fashion and music as well. I'll always have a bit of a crush on Adam Brody because of the show.

In honor of The O.C. coming out 10 years ago today... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhu302SBuac I can't overstate the importance of The O.C. on pop culture. 2003 had such a major shift in fashion and music, and I think the O.C. played a big part in that. Every girl I knew was wearing ballet flats with peasant skirts and tank tops like Marissa Cooper was, nerds like Seth Cohen became cool in their own way, and indie music got such a big boost.

As a leg man, it was always so annoying to see a guy who had a great chest, great biceps, great shoulders...and then you look down and see he's got chicken legs.

Can't you just sit back and let yourself enjoy how damn cute Steve Grand is? LOL.

Very true, and I like how JJ seems to be opposite of that- he knows deep down that he'll never be the star of the family like it seems like Darius and Will are, so JJ seeks out friends that he can be the star to instead. (Well, JJ's really seeking fans instead of friends, but still.) And I think Will knows that, which is why Will hit him hard with the bit that people are only friends with JJ because of him.

Let's hope Will's sophomore to senior years of high school are more stable and he gets to settle down. The Kai family scenes made me sad when I thought about how Will, for all the flashy excess of his life, doesn't really get to have a normal life for the most part. I was thinking about the typical high school/college experience, when you have friends that you grow up with and hang out with all the time...when you spend your nights chatting away at the local diner and make deep bonds that way, and I realized that little stuff like that probably won't happen with Will because his life is so jet-set and frenectic.

It would make sense that because Will's in a jet-set lifestyle where he meets a lot of people while he's traveling around, he's having more sexual partners as opposed to a typical 15-year old, but the bulk of those experiences tend to be one-offs instead of regular sexual partners like they would be with a 15-year old boy who has a lot of neighbor/school friends he messes with.

Will had oral sex with Evan Lysacek in Norway, didn't he? I know JJ only made out with Evan, but I thought Will got to third base with Evan, pissing JJ off. I'll be honest- I tend to glaze over during the Will sex scenes, especially when he was still 13, so I'm bad at keeping track of the amount of guys he's been with.

I think JJ would be more along the lines of, "I can't believe you guys are fucking up my posting schedule by making me do this list by myself! And I asked so nicely, too. FUCK YOU GUYS!"